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Gentrification In Brooklyn

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There has been a recent phenomenon throughout the United States of gentrification. As older parts of neighborhoods are occupied by new tenants with money, the neighborhood changes and loses its old character. Those who might have lived in those neighborhoods their entire lives are pushed out as rents begin to skyrocket and the surroundings begin to change. This has happened in many neighborhoods. One of the most well known is San Francisco, where technology companies have brought in new software engineers that have caused local rents to skyrocket and people to move out of the area. However, just as importantly has been the influx of new money to Brooklyn, where local neighborhood changes have forced people from their homes, traditional music to be replaced, and old businesses to go bankrupt. Brooklyn is the most heavily populated …show more content…

This influx has lead to greater numbers of whites on local juries, which has caused a trend in jury decisions that sentence African Americans and other minority groups at rates higher than what was occurring previously. While there is a problem with white juries convicting blacks at higher rates than other whites throughout the country, in Brooklyn this was traditionally not the case until the recent degree of gentrification that began to happen in the borough. This illustrates how gentrification has not only an economic impact on local ethnic groups, but also an impact on what they can expect from the justice system (Saul). To help counter these negative racial effects, there have been different movements in the borough to help concentrate the influence of communities that have traditionally lived in the area. Middle class African Americans in Brooklyn, specifically, have searched for ways to continue to help define Brooklyn in a way that isn’t resistant to change, but that helps to keep the influence of groups such as black Brooklynites inside the

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